Michigan County Histories

Search county histories and atlases using a word or phrase. Results will be displayed as books that match the search. If you are looking for someone or information specific to Oakland County, try a Boolean search. Type your search term in the “Find” field and Oakland County in the “Limit to” field. Select “title” in the drop-down list.

Land Patents

To search for locations in Oakland County, set the location state as “Michigan” and the county as “Oakland” from the drop-down options in the “Search Documents By Type” tab in the “Location” section. To find a name in the entire state, leave the county set as “Any County.”

In the “Land Description” section, set the Meridian as the “Michigan-Toledo Strip.” To find someone in a particular township, “Town” and “Range” settings are required. This image shows a list of towns and ranges in Oakland County.

Oakland County Maps Over Time: 1857-1908

Maps dating back to 1857 are available. A short video on using vintage maps by Carol Bacak-Egbo, Oakland County Parks historian, also provides an overview on the effective use of historic maps.

Central Michigan University Newspaper Archives

Search for newspaper articles using the “Find” field. Results will include the exact text as it appeared in the paper. For more precise results, put the search term in quotes.

Narrow search results to year range, newspaper or county using the “limit search” options. The results on each page will be highlighted in yellow.

Library of Congress

 This site has more than 55,000 entries on Oakland County, including maps.   

Gazetteers of Michigan

This link shows a list of search results, which includes Michigan business directories from mid-1800s to the early 1900s. The directories list towns in Michigan and the businesses there. Small towns may only list a local post office.

Oakland County Addresses and Sections

This link takes users to a map of the United States. Zoom in on Michigan using the “+” tool. Once in Michigan, hover and click or continue using + to zoom into Oakland County. Continued zoom will take users to street level views of cities, villages and townships.

Seeking Michigan

This site provides a digital archive of a variety of searchable records, including census results, land surveys, maps and death certificates. Narrow search results using the check boxes. Basic, advanced and custom searches are available.

Find a Grave

This volunteer-supported site houses information and photos of gravesites. Search the collection with a range of filters, including name, birth/death year, memorial type, etc.